No set up, it all boils down to this: I can’t imagine how much money I’d have to save in order to justify standing in line for hours in the cold waiting for a store to open. I don’t personally know anyone who’s gotten, oh, a $20 60-inch LED TV or whatever other crazy gimmick item that you might get if you show up early enough. Why should I not believe, instead, the hype is concocted and orchestrated entirely by some of the retail giants, and that any realized savings might reliably be on the order of 10-20% of the same purchase the week before or after Black Friday? Because frankly, for that kind of savings I’d be completely willing to sleep in and miss the circus.
Once upon a time, Christmas Season didn’t start until after Thanksgiving…
I think people traditionally went shopping for Christmas gifts on the day after Thanksgiving. Retailers called it Black Friday, because the spike in revenue would put them securely ‘in the black’. Of course retailers all want the biggest piece of the pie. Or the whole pie, if they can. So they whip the buying public into a frenzy to get as many people in the store buying things as possible.
Well, verified or refuted, really. I’m always open to the possibility I’m just not ‘getting it’ though, and that my deep skepticism is based deeply in ignernce. Because man, I can totally assert my ignernce when the mood takes me.
Basically you get into a riot and beat up others/get yourself beat up to score a cheap price on some electronic crap that will be outdated in 6 months.
It reminds me of visiting an open air art festival some years ago.
The festival was the festival, they throw it every spring and fall and the weather is invariably beautiful and there’s always a good crowd and even if you don’t care to purchase art it’s free to get in and there’s always something to see.
(Gaaaasp)
One year, a gum manufacturer set up shop at one end. They had a money booth set up, where you stand in line to enter a plexiglass box in front of a crowd of people and it blows money around and you try to get as much as you can. It did not have cash, it had coupons. Some of the coupons had dollar amounts, most were just for a pack of gum.
Some of the more gullible and easily manipulated members of my party were sure there was big money to be made at this booth so they teamed up and spent all day running through the line at this machine. My simple cost benefit analysis told me to ditch them and enjoy the festival.
At the end of the day, I spent $15 on a nice lunch and took in all that the festival had to offer and kept my dignity intact.
Those who spent all day standing in line traded their self respect and a full day of their lives for about 15 packs of gum and enough money to pay for 1/4 of their lunch.
Similarly, Black Friday is an opportunity to trade your self respect and an entire day of your life standing in line for a bunch of shit you don’t want and the illusive opportunity to save an insignificant amount of money.
Black friday deals nowadays are really no better than the deals on cyber monday or throughout the month of December (there are good deals after Christmas too, I got a $1300 TV for $600 around new years since a store was removing excess merchandise that was about to be replaced by a newer model).
I’ve done the early morning black friday thing but the deals aren’t as good and going online is easier and less stressful.
I entirely agree, but I think you are overlooking one part of the appeal: it gives you the opportunity to get out of the house and stop talking about politics with your crazy in-laws. I am dead serious. I think Friday shopping is popular in large part because after spending all day in the house with family on Thursday, people really want something neutral to do with those same family on Friday. Shopping can be a good multi-generational way to spend time.
Then the marketers have built it into a much crazier kind of thing, but I think that’s a big part of the appeal.
Mind you, I don’t go shopping on Black Friday. I hate to shop. But I am not going to knock other people’s hobbies, either.
This is the first time I took part in Black Friday. I basically bought all of my office wear for the next year (10 dress shirts, dress socks, a sport coat, suit) at Macy’s. I don’t enjoy shopping. I do enjoy going to a store, have a finite selection at a price I like, and then choosing between them.
It’s no different that getting shoes at DSW. I go find the 3-4 dress loafers they hve in stock and pick one. Then I go to the back of the store and get a new pair of tennis shoes. I’ll even scan what else they have in 8 1/2 on the off chance it fits a need. Done. Easy peasy lemon squeezy and I’m out of there in 10 minutes and done.
Net net, I did not camp out to get the single hot door buster electronic deal. Just in and out to get some basics that are on a pretty good sale. Could I get the same price during the rest of the year. Well, probably if I paid attention. But I am not enamored with shopping and so found the Black Friday experience actually pretty good. It was worth 2 hours of my life to save a couple of hundred bucks and alleviate the need to even think about buying additional work wardrobe stuff for at least another year.
I actually did score a really good deal on a computer on Black Friday – but that was 20 years ago before the era of Internet shopping. In 2007 I got a deal on an HDTV that I’m still using. Other than those, not so much.
It doesn’t have to be a camp out and you don’t have to buy electronics or spend a ton of money. See China Guy’s post.
But if a bunch of stuff that is on your “to buy” Christmas list is 30-50% off, and you have the day off work, and your silly cousin who likes a good deal is in town, then maybe it’d be fun to go out on Thursday night or early Friday to get some shopping done.
Camping out and beating each other up is one extreme and buying online Instead is the other end of the spectrum. Having a laugh and looking for a good deal on Barbie at 7 am on a Friday is the middle of the road experience and more usual.
This is me. Shopping is a necessary evil. I do as much as I can on line, but some things have to be touched and looked at up close, making a trip to a store necessary.
Years ago, I tried the Black Friday craziness once. I got all psyched up by the crowd and the shinies and I came home with a bunch of crap. As I was sorting it out, I realized a lot of what I got was truly crap, not even worth the super-cheap prices I paid, so a few days later, I took most of it back. And I never played that game again.
It also helps that our families don’t do gift exchanges beyond $10 gag gifts. Less stress, less shopping = WIN!!!
But what happens if you actually follow through on your New Year’s resolution and lose a substantial amount of weight? Those clothes will be the wrong size!!!
It’s like a zombie apocalypse with electronics and what not replacing brains (and we aren’t talking slow zombies here either).
Most people don’t save anything on Black Friday because they buy things they would never have anyway. I don’t mind spending a few hours to save a considerable amount of money provided I actually needed the item.
My gf is in advertising. She explained to me that Black Friday is a very recent US “tradition” and it is a huge failure. Since Black Friday has become a “thing” Xmas dollars spent have risen more rapidly in countries without it.